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A Democratic Lion Has Passed Away

Charles “Chuck” Porpiglia had no peer in the Democratic Party of Chautauqua County over the past fifty years plus. He will never be replaced in the hearts and minds of those of us who were able to call him friend or mentor. Over Chuck’s half century span laboring for the party, there was nothing Democratic in our county that wasn’t within his purview. Those of us working to elect Democrats could always count on the “did you ask Chuck” question when strategy and election plans were being made. But Chuck was so many things besides being Mr. Democrat. There was never a ...

The Bus Is In A Ditch

Let us look at Chautauqua County as though it is a big yellow school bus. Driving the bus is the County Executive PJ Wendel and immediately behind him on the bus are his department heads, county legislators, various elected officials in all parts of the county, and in the rear of this bus are you and I, the citizens of Chautauqua County, who have all paid for the ride through our taxes. The bus is going down a bumpy road, caused by a pandemic, and needs a steady hand to handle the wheel. We expect that the driver is skilled and will get us safely through this crisis. But wait, we now ...

Find A Safe Way To Have Nursing Home Visits

There has been a lot of press recently about relatives being unable to visit their family members who are in nursing homes during this time of COVID-19. Much of the discourse revolves around how much people miss their parents or grandparents whom they have been unable to visit. To my mind, attention should actually be more focused on those who are confined in the nursing homes. They desperately need to have this family interaction. Being alone, especially if you are dying, is a terrible thing. The restrictions on visits in nursing homes is understandable because the elderly are ...

Be Patient For COVID-19 Vaccines

You may be wondering — why is there no “pill” to stop the coronavirus? When we first realized there was a deadly virus threatening the entire world, many Americans assumed that there just had to be a pill for that. Once people heard that the symptoms were things like headache, shortness of breath, exhaustion, or a fever, they figured the next step was easy: Go to their doctor and get a pill. Except there isn’t any — and whipping up an instant vaccine hasn’t proven easy either. The fact is, we’ve been conditioned to think medicine can do anything. In my small ...

GOP Actions May Force Reform Of Supreme Court

In August of 2018, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a speech in Kentucky that “one of my proudest moments was when I looked Barack Obama in the eye and I said, ‘Mr. President, you will not fill the Supreme Court vacancy.’” In doing so, McConnell violated his oath of office to uphold the Constitution and disenfranchised the voters who put Barack Obama into office, by refusing to consider their president’s selection of Merrick Garland for Supreme Court Justice. That is nothing to be proud of ... President Obama nominated Garland a full 237 days before the 2016 ...

The Unity Bridge Of Chautauqua

We are all well aware of the “great divide” that separates northern and southern Chautauqua County — the Chautauqua Ridge that rises inland from the shores of Lake Erie separating the St. Lawrence and Allegheny/Ohio River watersheds. However, there also used to be an east/west barrier in the county— Chautauqua Lake itself. The only way to get from one side of the lake to the other, with the exception of the Bemus Point Ferry, was to drive around it. Can you imagine that today? How would people in Bemus Point get to Lakewood for shopping? How would people in Ellery get to ...